outsourcing

I attended a very interesting breakfast seminar on outsourcing hosted by AT Kearney. A number of key points emerged including the importance of treating the relationship between the buyer of the outsourcing services and the supplier as a marriage as opposed to a purely commercial arrangement. This clearly requires a great deal of trust and […]

I think there needs to be clarity on what an IT job is. Traditionally we think technologist, increasingly we think power user. No doubt there will be a shift as jobs go off shore. More significantly the high total cost of ownership of the data centre will drive technology innovation to obviate the need for […]

Western nations need an e-skills policy that reflects the future and their aspirations in respect of the IT supply chain. Should there be concerted efforts in both the academic and industrial arenas to grow capability in skills such as programming, architecture, testing and system administration? Or should the focus be on skills related to the […]

Harvard Business Review recently lamented on how destructive outsourcing in respect of high –tech manufacturing has led to the US losing its competitive edge. With outsourcing goes the associated skill, knowledge and R&D investment.; usually in an easterly direction. It seems logical of course to outsource ‘low value’ activity such as the production of chips, […]

The usual business model is to create demand (aka customer relationship management) and then fulfil the associated order (supply chain management). Both are needed. And it is increasingly common for elements of either or both to be outsourced to a third party. Outsourced elements tend to be of lower relative value to the organisation, but […]

Working very closely with the IT recruitment sector over the years I have noticed that there is a strong tendency to focus on competencies when sourcing IT talent. This is in the main driven by the hiring manager of the acquiring organisation. The beauty of competencies-led recruitment is that it can be distilled down into […]